Pueblo architecture refers to the traditional architecture of the Pueblo people in what is now the Southwestern United States, especially New Mexico. Many of the same building techniques were later adapted by the Hispanos of New Mexico into the Territorial Style. Pueblo and Hispano architecture was also the basis for the Pueblo Revival architecture and Territorial Revival architecture, 20th-century Southwestern regional styles that remain popular.
Ancestral Puebloan people first began building pueblo structures during the Pueblo I Period (750–900 CE). When Spanish colonists arrived in the Southwest beginning in the late 1500s, they learned the local construction techniques from the Pueblo people and adapted them to fit their own building types, such as haciendas and mission churches. [1] The Pueblo people also adopted some of the Spanish innovations, including the manufacturing of sun-baked adobe bricks. [2] As modern building materials like brick, glass, and milled lumber became more available during the Territorial period and especially with the arrival of railroads in the 1870s and 1880s, the traditional construction methods fell out of favor, though they remained commonplace at the pueblos themselves and in other rural areas. Pueblo architecture experienced a resurgence in the 1920s and 1930s as a romanticized revival style, Pueblo Revival, and remains popular in New Mexico.
Pueblo buildings are most commonly constructed from adobe, though stone was also used where available, for instance at Chaco Canyon. The buildings have flat roofs supported by rough-hewn wooden beams called vigas and smaller perpendicular laths or latillas. The vigas typically extend through the exterior wall surface. Larger structures often take the form of multistory terraces with setbacks at each level. Traditionally, upper floors were accessed by ladders, and buildings were often semi-fortified with minimal door and window openings at ground level. In modern practice, conventional doors and windows are more common, and were often retrofitted into older buildings. Other key elements of Pueblo architecture include kivas, which are circular ceremonial rooms which are partially or fully below ground, and enclosed courtyards or plazas. [3] [4] There is an emphasis on communal rather than private spaces, with the plaza at the center of the village and village life, while dwelling and storage areas are more utilitarian and are arranged around the periphery. [5]
According to Santa Clara architect and historian, Rina Swentzell, Pueblo architecture can be understood in the context of "a world in which a house or structure is not an object—or a machine to live in—but is part of a cosmological world view that recognizes multiplicity, simultaneity, inclusiveness, and interconnectedness." [6] In this tradition, buildings are seen as living entities with a finite lifespan, and "are 'fed' cornmeal after construction so that they may have a good life." [7] The "center" is an important concept, with the plaza as both the physical center of the village and the metaphysical center of the universe:
The "heart of the earth" or bu-ping-geh (heart of the pueblo) for the Tewa people is the open community space within the village where ritual dances and other community activities happen. The bu-ping-geh contains the literal center of the earth, the nan-sipu, which translates as "the belly-root" of the earth. Each pueblo's cosmos encircles the nan-sipu, and the surrounding mountains, where the sky and earth touch, are the boundaries of the well-organized spaces in which people, animals, and spirits live. [7]
The nan-sipu may be inconspicuously marked with stones. [7] The idea of emergence from and return to the earth is also important, especially in the underground kivas and the ladders used to ascend from one level to another. [6] Swentzell's daughter, sculptor Roxanne Swentzell, identified the pueblos' centuries-long connection to the landscape as another key aspect of Pueblo architecture:
You may watch a tree grow up from a little baby tree to a big tree and then cut it down and use it in your house for a viga. But you know that tree. It's your family. The dirt you go get to plaster or make your adobes with and stuff, it's just right there. So you know where the good dirt is and where the not-so-good dirt is. It's absolutely having a relationship. [5]
The Puebloans, or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Among the currently inhabited Pueblos, Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zuni, and Hopi are some of the most commonly known. Pueblo people speak languages from four different language families, and each Pueblo is further divided culturally by kinship systems and agricultural practices, although all cultivate varieties of maize.
Pueblo refers to the settlements and to the Native American tribes of the Pueblo peoples in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlements in the United States, are called pueblos (lowercased).
A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground, and used for spiritual ceremonies.
The De Vargas Street House, often referred to as the Oldest House, is a historic building in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which is often said to be one of the oldest buildings in United States. The original date of construction is unknown but the majority of the building is believed to date to the Spanish colonial period (post-1610). One archaeological study also concluded that some sections of the walls are characteristic of Pueblo architecture and may be pre-Spanish in origin. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties in 1968 as a contributing property in the Barrio De Analco Historic District.
Pueblo Bonito is the largest and best-known great house in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico. It was built by the Ancestral Puebloans who occupied the structure between AD 828 and 1126.
The Pueblo Revival style or Santa Fe style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States, which draws its inspiration from Santa Fe de Nuevo México's traditional Pueblo architecture, the Spanish missions, and Territorial Style. The style developed at the beginning of the 20th century and reached its greatest popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, though it is still commonly used for new buildings. Pueblo style architecture is most prevalent in the state of New Mexico; it is often blended with Territorial Revival architecture.
The Estufa is a historic structure on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was built in 1907–08 by a local social fraternity and has served since 1915 as the primary meeting location of the university's Pi Kappa Alpha chapter. The building's history is steeped in fraternity lore and supposedly no woman has ever seen its interior. It is listed in both the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places.
Salmon Ruins is an ancient Chacoan and Pueblo site located in the northwest corner of New Mexico, USA. Salmon was constructed by migrants from Chaco Canyon around 1090 CE, with 275 to 300 original rooms spread across three stories, an elevated tower kiva in its central portion, and a great kiva in its plaza. Subsequent use by local Middle San Juan people resulted in extensive modifications to the original building, with the reuse of hundreds of rooms, division of many of the original large, Chacoan rooms into smaller rooms, and emplacement of more than 20 small kivas into pueblo rooms and plaza areas. The site was occupied by ancient Ancestral Puebloans until the 1280s, when much of the site was destroyed by fire and abandoned. The pueblo is situated on the north bank of the San Juan River, just to the west of the modern town of Bloomfield, New Mexico, and about 45 miles (72 km) north of Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. The site was built on the first alluvial terrace above the San Juan River floodplain.
Chetro Ketl is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, United States. Construction on Chetro Ketl began c. 990 and was largely complete by 1075, with significant remodeling occurring in the early and mid-1110s. Following the onset of a severe drought, most Chacoans emigrated from the canyon by 1140; by 1250 Chetro Ketl's last inhabitants had vacated the structure.
Poeh Center is a cultural center in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Established by Pojoaque Pueblo, it is devoted to the arts and culture of the Puebloan peoples. The center is located off of U.S. Route 84. It is near Pojoaque Pueblo's Cities of Gold Casino and Hotel, and about 16 miles (26 km) north of Santa Fe. Construction started in 1992 with gaming revenue, and was completed in 2003.
Vigas are wooden beams used in the traditional adobe architecture of the American Southwest, especially in New Mexico. In this type of construction, the vigas are the main structural members carrying the weight of the roof to the load-bearing exterior walls. The exposed beam-ends projecting from the outside of the wall are a defining characteristic of Pueblo architecture and of Spanish Colonial architecture in New Mexico, often replicated in modern Pueblo Revival architecture. Usually the vigas are simply peeled logs with a minimum of woodworking. In traditional buildings, the vigas support latillas (laths) which are placed crosswise and upon which the adobe roof is laid, often with intermediate layers of brush or soil. The latillas may be hewn boards, or - in more rustic buildings - simply peeled branches. These building techniques date back to the Ancestral Puebloan peoples of 750 to 1300 CE, and vigas are visible in many of their surviving buildings.
Hundreds of Ancestral Puebloan dwellings are found across the American Southwest. With almost all constructed well before 1492 CE, these Puebloan towns and villages are located throughout the geography of the Southwest.
The Pueblo I Period was the first period in which Ancestral Puebloans began living in pueblo structures and realized an evolution in architecture, artistic expression, and water conservation.
The Pueblo III Period was the third period, also called the "Great Pueblo period" when Ancestral Puebloans lived in large cliff-dwelling, multi-storied pueblo, or cliff-side talus house communities. By the end of the period, the ancient people of the Four Corners region migrated south into larger, centralized pueblos in central and southern Arizona and New Mexico.
Pot Creek Cultural Site is an abandoned 13th century pueblo located on private land owned by Southern Methodist University and on public Carson National Forest land in Taos County, New Mexico.
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. They are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture. The people and their archaeological culture are often referred to as Anasazi, meaning "ancient enemies", as they were called by Navajo. Contemporary Puebloans object to the use of this term, with some viewing it as derogatory.
Scholes Hall is the historic administration building of the University of New Mexico, located on the main campus in Albuquerque. It was the first of many buildings designed for the university by Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem, who helped to cement the Pueblo Revival style as the "official" architecture of the campus. Built in 1934–36 with Public Works Administration funding, it is regarded as one of Meem's most notable designs.
Cristo Rey Church is a Roman Catholic parish church on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of the most notable buildings designed by influential Santa Fe architect John Gaw Meem and is claimed by some sources to be the largest adobe building in the United States. It is also notable for its historic altar screen, the Reredos of Our Lady of Light, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The reredos was carved in 1761 and originally hung in La Castrense, a military chapel on the Santa Fe Plaza. It has been described as "one of the most extraordinary pieces of ecclesiastical art in the country". The church was dedicated in 1940.
The Gutiérrez Hubbell House also known as the James Lawrence and Juliana Gutierrez y Chavez Hubbell House, is a historic territorial-style hacienda. The original house dates back to the 1820s, and was enlarged in the 1850s and 1860s. It is located in the village of Pajarito in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The house has existed under three national flags: Spain, Mexico and the United States.
